章節 40: Press conference

"Well Mr. Stark you should go to address the press conference" John continued. "Just call me Tony from next time. I owe you a life kid" Tony replied.

"Sure Tony." Tony and Obadiah then went to the podium for the press conference. Obadiah just said a greeting and thanked John along the way. Pepper too followed Tony and thanked John for saving Tony even though she didn't know how he saved Tony but she was grateful nonetheless.

As Tony came to the stage he sat down and said " Hey would it be alright if everyone sat down? That way you can see me and I can see you" All sat down and even Obadiah joined him and sat down beside.

From a corner Coulson approached Pepper and said " Hello, Miss Potts, can I have some moments with you?"

"UMM. I don't know anything. You can ask Tony there who is on the stage" she replied

"I am not a reporter miss Potts. I am special agent Phil Coulson of SHIELD. I am here to debrief Mr. Stark on what happened over in Afghanistan" Coulson said.

"We have already been contacted by the DOD, FBI, CIA.. We have already said that we don't know anything"

Before Coulson could reply her they heard a voice saying

"It's fine Coulson. You will get your answers soon. He will be joining too. You really took my advice. Didn't I give you a nice abbreviation? I should get the naming rights."

"Umm hello John. I was going to ask you too about this. Is he coming? " Coulson said as he saw John beside him.

"Mr. Jameson you know this agent? That's great. He can ask you about what happened. I am curious too about what happened out there" Pepper said

"Please miss Potts.. Call me John. Actually I too don't really know what happened out there. 'He' will come soon. You can go and tell Nick that he will contact soon" John said. After listening to this Coulson left

"I never got to say goodbye to Dad. There are questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what the company did. If he was conflicted, if he had any doubts." Tony said. " I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them. I have become part of the system which has zero accountability."

"What happened over there?" asked one reporter

"I had my eyes open. I came to realize that I have more to offer to this world then making things blow up. That is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing divisions of Stark International until such a time I can decide the future of the company" Tony gave the announcement while standing up and it sent the reporters in a frenzy.

Obadiah stopped Tony from saying anything more and said "What we should take away from this is that Tony's back"

After Tony came out he saw Pepper and John and went towards them. Obadiah joined him with a sullen face.

"Well that went well. What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?"

"Well approximately 40 points" Tony replied.

"That's a minimum" John said this time

"Well the news papers will be very happy to see this new development and make a headline saying you have won in this supposed war between us." Tony said to John with a laugh.

"Well then I better start buying all the stocks that I can from tomorrow. I have great faith in you Tony" John replied. This surprised all of them as they didn't expect John to buy the stocks after it falls through that would be a loss, of course if the company's stocks rises again in future then it would be a different ball game.

Tony just smiled at his words and didn't say anything and took them to the big arc reactor that was built. Obadiah wanted to see the small arc reactor as he already knew from beginning. John and Pepper also saw it after he opened his buttons. Pepper and John both gave a serious look to it. Even though John already knew the whole story but it still surprised him when he saw the arc reactor up close.

"Ok. John come with me. We need to talk." Tony said and he went to his car. John and Pepper joined him. Obadiah went on his own way as he has to handle the storm that was approaching for the company.

They reached Tony's famous home in Malibu and entered through the gate.

"I have got to say Tony, I envy your big home, it looks stunning" John said with envy.

"Well you are ok to move here if you want. I don't have anyone other than myself here." Tony said without much giving a thought.

Suddenly a voice said "Welcome back sir."

Tony didn't reply but John said "Hello Jarvis. It's nice to meet you"